Dark side of the Street

Only Harley would think of taking a Street 750 and hotrodding it

HARLEY-DAVIDSON HAS introduced a meaner version of the Street 750, named Street Rod. Inevitably inspired by its elder siblings, such as the V-Rod and Night Rod, the third ‘Street’ model gets several distinguishing elements.

Clearly a better looking motorcycle than the Street 750, the Street Rod is finished in matte colours. There is also a completely new dragster-like handlebar, a split seat and a tidy tail. The steering geometry has been altered and it even gets USD forks. The rake angle is 27 degrees (five degrees less than the Street 750) which has resulted in a reduced trail of 99mm. The outcome is a shortened wheelbase at 1510mm (10mm less than on the stock Street 750). You even sit on a saddle that's taller at 765mm. Expect the Street Rod to be a decent handler and one of the best among the Harleys. And you will not scrape the pegs as they are slightly rear set and also smaller in size. The 17-inch rims are now larger by 2-inches than the Street 750's. The bike also has a higher ground clearance of 205mm as compared to 145mm on the Street 750. The intention is clearly to promote the Street Rod as a sportier alternative then.

The 749cc motor has been retained but the Revolution X engine now gets a new fueling system. The twin-port injection (single-port in the Street 750) incorporates a larger throttle body which has resulted in a higher compression ratio at 12.0:1 (hopefully Harley has worked out how to make such a high compression ratio work with the fuel available in India). All the trickery has resulted in a higher torque figure at 62Nm (increase of 3Nm) coming in at 4000rpm. Being a Harley, no power figures have been revealed but Harley claims to have improved it by 11 per cent at 8250rpm. The slickest six-speed gearbox in the Harley family has been retained and with a higher torque figure, expect even better in-gear acceleration. And all this with a weight gain of just 5kg. Harley even claims to have equipped the exhausts with a sweeter sounding track. Wonder if they are still singing 'potato' or if they have moved to some ecofriendly organic vegetable.

Braking has never been a forte of the Harleys but the Street Rod gets dual 300mm rotors up front with twin-calipers (single on the Street 750) for improved stopping power. ABS is also standard.

At `5.86 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) the Street Rod is more expensive than the Street 750 by `86,000 (ABS version) but it still makes for a yummy prospect. We will be riding it next month before commercial test rides start in India on April 21. For now, you can head to the nearest showroom to ogle at this machine. See you there.